A Pirate's Life for Me
by FreeSpirit21
Summary: My name is Arabella Turner. I've lived at sea for nearly ten years, making port occasionally for supplies. I live with my parents and my uncle Jack. We live on Uncle Jack's ship, the Black Pearl. My father returned from sea almost ten years ago, after serving ten years as captain of the Flying Dutchman.
1. Chapter 1

My name is Arabella Turner and I'm almost nineteen years old. I've lived at sea for nearly ten years, making port occasionally for supplies. I live with my parents and my uncle Jack. We live on Uncle Jack's ship, the Black Pearl. My father returned from sea almost ten years ago, after serving ten years as captain of the Flying Dutchman. My mother told me many stories of her and my father as I grew up about their lives growing up together and where my father was and what kind of man he was. I knew at a very young age that my father was my hero. I was so excited to finally meet him. I had already loved him since hearing the first story Mother told me, and the moment I hugged him, I knew that he loved me as well.


	2. Chapter 2

After Father's return, Uncle Jack arrived and requested that we join him on a journey. I didn't tell anyone, but I think Uncle Jack missed Father as much as Mother and I did. I had never left the island I lived on with Mother, and the first time I stepped on board the Black Pearl, I fell in love with everything about it. I loved feeling the ocean spray as I watched waves crash against the side of the ship and I also loved watching the dolphins and other sea creatures swimming alongside us as we went on our journey. I loved the crow's nest of the ship most of all. Sitting up there, I felt as if I was on top of the world, looking down at everything and being able to see everything that surrounded me. Also, it is a fantastic place to hide from Uncle Jack when he finds work for me to do.

Even though he makes me work a lot, I know that Uncle Jack loves me. He calls me his Little Pirate Princess because my mother is the Pirate King. Its an odd title for a woman, really. She should request that it be changed. I've always known that I'm a pirate. Mother is a pirate lord and Father was captain of the Flying Dutchman, one of the most beautiful ships that I've ever seen. Pirate blood flows in my veins. Mother doesn't particularly want me to be a pirate, but Father and Uncle Jack know it is inevitable. However, Uncle Jack says I'm not a true pirate until I've tasted rum. Mother says that it is a vile drink. Some day, I'll be captain of my own ship. I'll give it the same name that Uncle Jack gave me. Or perhaps it will have the less regal name he gave me as a young child. Little Beastie.


	3. Chapter 3

p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"One day, we came across a ship that appeared to be a harmless merchant vessel. Without warning, the ship opened cannon fire on the Pearl. Before we were able to return fire, the pirates were on our ship, forcing us to engage in battle. One man, twice my size, came at me, presuming I would be an easy target for him. What he didn't know is that I had been practicing with a sword since I was very young. Mother had started teaching me, even before Father had returned. I was the better fighter but he was able to overpower me with his size, forcing me to the deck. The next moment, I felt the sharp steel of his blade slicing across my stomach. Another swing of his sword sent searing pain across my forehead, just above my left eye. Covering my face to protect it against any more blows, I did not see that my father was attacking my assailant. After what seemed like an eternity of lying on the deck, the pirates retreated to their ship, sailing away before we could ready the cannons. After our attackers were out of range, Mother and Father ran to my side, checking the severity of my wounds. I seemed to be the only one concerned that my crow's nest had been damaged by the cannons./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p 


	4. Chapter 4

p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"The night of the attack, nobody suspected the enemy would return. Like always, everyone was below deck, asleep. The man keeping watch had fallen asleep, or more likely passed out drunk from rum. Nobody saw the ship approach us as we all lay oblivious in our cabins. Hearing a noise coming from above deck, I hurriedly put my boots on to go investigate. I never thought about grabbing my sword, I just thought it was the watchman. When I walked up to the deck, I saw the watchman laying unconscious at the feet of the same man that had attacked me earlier that same day. Too frightened to scream, I stood frozen in front of the man who, I'm sure, wanted to kill me. For several seconds, I stood staring at the very large man. When I finally moved from my frozen position, I tried to scream for my parents. Before I could make a single sound, another man, just as large as the first, came up behind me and put his equally large hand over my mouth. Both men held me down, tying my hands and feet together. As soon as they carried me on board their ship, it began moving away. I bit the hand covering my mouth. "Papa!" I screamed as loud as I could, knowing that he and Mother would hear me. He would know something was terribly wrong, I had not called him "papa" since I was a little girl. I saw my parents, Uncle Jack, and other crew members running up onto the deck from below, all watching as the ship I was on sailed away from the Black Pearl. "Mama! Papa! Help me!" I screamed at them while trying to fight off my captors. The last thing I saw before being taken below deck to the brig was Mother crying as they all tried to ready the ship to come to my rescue. /p 


	5. Chapter 5

I awoke with a piercing headache and found myself deep below deck in the dark, moldy brig. I could not see outside to know if it was day or night. I had not the slightest idea of how long I had been on my captor's ship. Not long after waking, I heard many sets of footsteps coming down the stairs. Instinctively, I moved as far back as the small cell would allow to put as much distance between myself and the group of men in front of me. I knew nothing good would come of the situation unfolding before me. As a tear escaped my clenched eyes, the man in the front of the group pulled me from the cell that once had been so dark and menacing, and now seemed like a small piece of heaven compared to where I was now. In the arms of these strange men. I was taken to a dark room that was somehow deeper into the hull of the ship than the room I had previously been kept in. The man holding me threw my weak body into a chair and tied me to it using knots that even Uncle Jack would be proud of. They began taking turns beating me and insulting me, not telling me what they wanted. I was not given a chance to beg for mercy. When I thought the pain and torture were finally over, a small cry of fear escaped my throat as the very man, whom at one point tried to kill me, pulled a very large knife from behind his back. He grabbed my face and slowly reopened the gash above my eye, which he had put there in the first place, that had just started to heal. After he was finished with that, he quickly sliced across my chest with his razor-sharp blade, cutting my shirt, staining the white fabric with my crimson blood. As I sat, bleeding and refusing to shed even a single tear more, the man untied me, leading me back to my very welcoming cell.

When the group of men left me alone in the dark, I began to cry. The tears ran down my cheeks and mixed with the blood that had already stained my pale face. A short while later, I heard footsteps once again. This time, they were running. I did not know if I had done anything else to deserve more punishment, and with a quiet sob, I moved back until I hit the wall of my damp cell. In the shadows, I could not distinguish the figures coming down the steps toward me. It was only after I heard Mother's cry of relief that I realized that I was being rescued from my horrible imprisonment.


End file.
